CLEVELAND - Sales of new and refurbished pallets will expand 3.5 percent per year through 2017 to 1.3 billion units, valued at $16.9 billion, says a new study by The Freedonia Group Inc., a Cleveland-based industry market research firm.

According to the study Pallets, growth of new pallets will be stronger than refurbished, and block pallets will make up a larger share of the market total.  Wood by far continues to be the more commonly used material for pallets and is projected to reach 1.25 billion units in 2017, compared to 9 million units for metal and 37 million units for plastic pallets.

The demand for wood pallets is expected to grow 3.3 percent annually until 2017, compared to plastic at 7.5 percent and metal at 10.4 percent.